This invention relates to wave energy converters (WECs) for converting energy in the waves on the surface of bodies of water to useful energy, and particularly to the mooring or anchoring of WECs of the floating buoy type.
One known type of WEC, with which the present invention is primarily concerned, comprises a buoy on which is mounted a part driven into movement in response to passing surface waves. The moving part drives an energy transducer for generating useful energy. For retaining the buoy in place, a common practice is to moor the buoy using three, 120-degree spaced apart mooring lines or cables, with each line being connected to an anchor by means of an intermediate “auxiliary surface buoy” (ASB) for supporting the weight of the mooring line. A problem with this mooring arrangement, however, is that if a plurality of WECs is used, for increasing the amount of generated power, a mooring arrangement using three anchors and three ASBs for each WEC is both expensive and space consuming. The present invention provides an improved arrangement for mooring groups of WECs.